Arsène Lupin
"Don't worry. Stay with me and you'll soon be able to laugh and cry again-- All I do is for you." Arsène Lupin is a notorious master thief who is perpetually upbeat, outgoing, and overflowing with confidence — traits more than justified given his overwhelming success. After encountering Cardia Beckford, he whisks her away to London for reasons known only to himself.http://aksysgames.com/code-realize/arsene-lupin/ He is one of the five characters the player can choose to pursue in the game. He is also voiced by Tomoaki Maeno (Japanese) and J. Michael Tatum (English). Appearance Lupin is a handsome and attractive flawless fair-skinned young man, adding to his charming personality with wispy dark brown hair, luminous amber eyes, a tall and slender body and a nice build. Throughout the anime, his main outfit consists of a dark, jade-green vest, a cream colored dress shirt a long, velvety red coat with gears accessorized on it, white trousers, and dark shoes. He also dons a black top hat with a red accent and a gold badge accessory. He also wears a black cloak and white mask whenever he goes on a mission to conceal himself better/blend in. He also switches his trousers to black ones, and wears a red dress shirt with a red vest on top. Personality Lupin considers himself to be a "gentleman thief" who only ever steals from people who really deserve it. His code doesn't allow for him to steal for his own gain, though that doesn't stop him from taking a finder's fee from those whose items he steals back for them. Despite this, he is a optimistic and cheerful man who dislikes violence. Story 'Prologue ' A mysterious duo (later revealed to be Lupin and Impey) idle time away in the area around a mansion in Wales. They wait for days before a group of British soldiers, lead by Captain Leonhardt, finally arrive, signalling the direction of the duo's target. As it turns out, the British Government is looking for a monster that can burn skin on the orders of Finis, leader of a secret government agency known as Twilight. When they find Cardia Beckford in the mansion, they are surprised that their monster is a woman and proceed to take her into custody. ]] Before she can be taken, though, Lupin makes his first appearance in the game. Using Impey's inventions, they stop the automobiles in their tracks. From there, Lupin reveals himself and is deliberately showy in order to distract the guards, slipping away with her under cover of smoke, despite Cardia's initial protest. Lupin promises to rid Cardia of her poison and Cardia agrees to go with him, which causes the start of the adventure. 'Chapter 1: London Steam ' 'Chapter 2: The Strongest Stalker ' 'Chapter 3: A Girl's Education ' 'Chapter 4: Train Robbery ' 'Chapter 5: The Vampire's Requiem ' 'Chapter 6: Negotiated Solution ' 'Chapter 7: The Buoyant and the Bellicose ' 'Chapter 8: Nobody Understands the Truth' 'Chapter 9: Forgiveness for the Past' CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION! After the events with Finis in her father's underground laboratory, Cardia decides to set out alone to return to her old mansion in Wales in search of more clues as to her father's whereabouts and her own existence. Unlike the other routes, no one will stop nor join her in her endeavor, and after a long train ride, she arrives at her old hometown. Cardia is somewhat hesitant about returning, as her memories of Elaine, Etty and the villagers still haunt her, but she continues onward towards her mansion. After arriving at said mansion, Cardia searches the entire mansion for any clues that she may have missed before, and discovers a hidden letter stowed away in a compartment built into a stuffed animal in her bedroom. The letter is from her father, but Cardia is too afraid of what she may find upon reading that letter, and before she can make a decision as to whether or not to read it, Cardia hears a sound of glass breaking from the hallway. When she sets foot outside her room, she is horrified to see that the villagers have surrounded the mansion, threatening to break in if she does not surrender herself to them. The villagers are the same as the ones who were present during the time of Elaine's death, and Cardia is reminded of her past, sparking inside of her a frantic urge to run away. Cardia attempts to escape through a side window, but in her panic, she forgets the stealthy movement skills that Lupin had taught her, and after slipping through the window, she trips and falls over a hidden pebble. The noise from her fall attracts the villagers' attention, and they immediately begin to chase after her, taking advantage of her fear. As Cardia rises again to run away, her glove snags on a nearby tree branch, and she is forced to remove it as she dashes into the forest. After running for quite some time, Cardia stops once she realizes that the villagers are closing in on her location from all sides. In fear and reminder of her past sins, Cardia sinks to the ground, and remains immobile until the villagers reach her. They begin to shout insults at Cardia, calling her a "monster" and one villager even throwing a rock at her head, injuring her. Cardia begs for someone to save her, and she can only cry as she cannot think of a rebuttal to their accusations. The priest then arrives and orders her to be killed in order to stop the epidemic and drought that has been plaguing their land, as he believes Cardia to be a cohort of the Devil. As if in response to Cardia's plea, the priest is hit from behind by Lupin, who has deduced her whereabouts and has come to her rescue. After pulling Cardia close to him, Lupin reprimands them all severely for calling Cardia a "monster", and says that their current conditions are only existent due to the fact that they are all merely attempting to find a scapegoat for the recent chain of unfortunate events. The priest calls Lupin the Devil in his rage and orders the villagers to kill him as well, but Lupin states that following the priest's advice will only lead to calamity in their village. He then throws a smoke bomb and jumps abnormally high into the air carrying Cardia in his arms, the villagers left stunned by this seemingly magnificent feat of magic (although Lupin is attached to strings that he had tied to some of the trees beforehand). After their escape, Lupin brings Cardia to a pre-set camping spot farther away from the village, and he attempts to ask her why she tried to leave alone. Cardia explains that she is a "monster" and should not involve any of them in her troubles anymore. Although Lupin attempts to comfort her, Cardia is still troubled, and the two sit in silence until a sound from the bushes behind them startles Cardia into standing up abruptly, as she is afraid that the villagers have caught up already. However, Lupin does not seem worried- and rightly so, for behind them is not the priest nor the villagers- it is Etty, Elaine's daughter, holding onto the book of herbal remedies from her deceased mother. Stunned by the young girl's sudden appearance, Cardia is mostly silent as Etty begins to speak. Etty explains solemnly that the book that Cardia had given to her from Elaine was in fact not a book of herbs and plants, but a book containing all of Elaine's emotions for Cardia. Etty continues explaining that the book says nothing about Cardia being a "monster", and only praises her for all of her good qualities. As a result, Etty says that although she cannot forgive Cardia for the murder of her mother, she admits that the villagers were wrong to attack her, and tells her that she is not the "monster" that everyone describes her as. She then retreats back towards the village, leaving Cardia speechless. Lupin smiles and comments that there is a person who does not believe that she is a monster. Processing these words for the very first time, Cardia bursts into tears and cries wholeheartedly, Lupin watching over her. After a while, Cardia and Lupin are sitting by a campfire, Cardia embarrassed at crying so much in front of Lupin, though Lupin seems to pay this no mind. Cardia then begins to tell him about her past with Elaine and Etty, as well as the events that led up to their current situation. She also hands him the letter she had obtained from the mansion, and the two begin to read it together, Cardia's will strengthened by Lupin's presence. The letter describes humanity's new path to enlightenment and knowledge, which is reminiscent of the opening scene of the game, as well as some complex formulas and equations. There is also a portion of the letter addressed to her, containing the words "Code:Realize". Upon hearing these words, Cardia feels a strange connection to them, and tells Lupin that although she cannot decipher them, the words hold a very special meaning for her. Lupin is surprised to hear this as well; he tells her that the international terrorist plot that he has been chasing is also called "Code:Realize". After a night's rest, they then decide that they will board the next locomotive back to London to return to Saint Germain's mansion, as the others have also been searching for Cardia. 'Chapter 10: The Fires of Battle' After boarding a train headed back to London, Cardia and Lupin chat during the ride, Cardia beginning to feel a somewhat strange emotion towards Lupin that seems warm, but at the same time "tightens her chest". 'Chapter 11: A Hero' 'Chapter 12: Code: Realize' 'Chapter 13: Warmth' Gallery Trivia *Lupin is based on the literary figure Arsène Lupin; a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created by French writer Maurice Leblanc. He has the characteristic pride, wits, romantic attitude, showboating theatrics and trickery of Leblanc's original but is considerably more easily riled by Herlock Sholmes. *Lupin placed 1st in the official Code: Realize poll with a total of 2443 (29.2%) votes. *Lupin makes an appearance alongside the other characters of Code: Realize in the Idea Factory otome card game ''Sephirot ~World Tree of Time~ '', which contains characters exclusively from otome games published by the company Otomate. References fr:Arsène Lupin Category:Male Characters Category:Characters